Study On The Developing Countries’ Participate And Utilize DSU

Dispute Settlement Mechanism has long been regarded as ‘the jewel of the crown of theWTO ‘. Politicians and scholars from around the world also accords many compliments toit.For example, Renato Ruggiero, the former general director of WTO,once said:”any remarksto the achievement of WTO would be incomplete if the dispute settlement mechanism was notincluded. It is the supporting pillar of the multilateral trade system from many aspects,contributing to the stability of the world economy.” Professor John Jackson also regarded thedispute settlement mechanism as the core feature of WTO, having great influence to the globaltrade system and trade diplomacy. However, the question is whether the dispute settlementmechanism is fair and effective to the developing countries.The dispute settlement mechanism may not be such a fair and effective one to thedeveloping countries,which can be implied from their past participation to the DSU process.There’s still much defects in the DSU process which often causes extra burden on thedeveloping countries to some extent. The lengthy DSU process means high costs and thecomplexity like a maze of the WTO law causes much obstacle to the developing countries’participation to the DSU process. The special and differential treatment to the developingcountries stipulated in the DSU is of little practical value to the developing countries. Even if adeveloping country initiate and eventually win a WTO case, it will possibly encounter enormousobstacle in the implement of the DSB decisions or recommendations:the compensationprovisions are of little practical use and the retaliation may cause greater loss to itself. Given thepolitical power and economic strength of most developing countries, retaliation is not adesirable choice because it can not bring much threat and pressure to the developed countries.In short, there’s no card in the developing countries’ hands to ensure the execution of therecommendation or decisions of the DSB.This paper is divided into five parts in discussing the problem of the current settlementmechanism and the issue of how improve its functioning as well as the corresponding efforts ofthe developing countries with methods of historical study, comparative study and case study.An introductive description to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism in part one includesits origin and primary contents, brief comments and the reform experience of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.Part two talks about the special and differential treatment to the developing countries in thedispute settlement mechanism. Firstly, I will make a brief summary to the history of special anddifferential treatment to the developing countries; then I will present a specific analysis to thespecial and differential treatment to the developing countries in the WTO dispute settlementmechanism.Part three is about the analysis to the developing countries’ participation to the DSUprocess.You can get a general situation of the developing countries’ use of the DSU processthrough statistical data, diagrams and cases. This part also explores the causes of such situation.Provisions of favorable treatment to the developing countries are flashy without substance. Alsothe developing countries have their own restrictive conditions.Part four describes the problems that the developing countries face in use of the DSUprocess, including substantive and procedural problems and the developing countries’ ownrestrictive factors. The substantive problem includes the explanation of the panels and theappellate bodies, and the limited effectiveness of the special and differential treatmentprovisions, the lengthy period of the process. The developing countries’ inner restrictiveconditions include political pressure and the shortage of legal experts and financial resources.Proposals are advocated in part five to improving WTO dispute settlement mechanism inorder to better protect the developing countries’ interests in the international multilateral tradesystem. That is, on base of the problems mentioned in part four, modifications to the DSUshould be made to reinforce the developing countries’ ability in using the DSU process; specialattention should be paid to the substantive and procedural problems in the DSU process so as toadapt them to the developing countries’ conditions.At the end of the essay, I predict that it will be a long process to have the dispute settlementmechanism reformed. I suggest that the developing countries should cooperate in making afairer mechanism.